USA > Colorado > History of the State of Colorado, Volume IV > Part 86
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LOCKWOOD, Fred, merchant and legislator. was born in Birmingham, England, May 4, 1851, and remained there until fourteen years of age, during which time he attended the common schools of that country, and subse- quently was apprenticed to the trade of glass- making. Upon reaching his fourteenth year he removed to Canada, where he was em- ployed In mercantile houses until 1869, when he removed to Lenox. Mass., and from there to New Albany, Ind. Here he entered the om- ploy of Capt. J. B. Ford, and assisted that gentleman in ereeting and conducting the first polished plate-glass works that were es- tablished in the United States, In 1870 he returned to Canada and engaged in several mercantile enterprises, with varying success. During his residence in Canada he married Miss Mattie Rubridge, daughter of Alfred Inbridge, Q. C., at Port Hope, in the year 1-71. Four children have been born to them. the only daughter dying at an early age. Three sons are still with their parents. In 1969 he decided upon coming to Colorado and
LOWELL, John W., stock grower, was born in Washington county, Vt .. Feb. 27, 1836, and was educated in the public schools, and in the academies of Rutland and Bristol. U'pon attaining his twentieth year he removed to Illinois, where he taught school, first at Syra- more, and subsequently at Rochelle, until the breaking out of the civil war, at which time he enlisted in battery G, 2nd Illinois light ar- tillery. Before going into active service, ho was promoted to the rank of 2nd Hontenant, and very soon thereafter to that of 1st lieu- tenant, and subsequently to a captainey. He accordingly left his home in Indiana and lo- participated in many battles, notably the sur- cated in Denver, where for the first year he
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was in the service of the Union Pacific Ry. the interest of good government, an active Co., in their local freight office, and for the politician at times.
seven following years he was secretary of the Marshall Coal Co. At the expiration of that time he engaged in the mercantile busi- ness at the Marshall mines, and the business then established was subsequently incorpo- rated as the Lockwood Trading company, with Mr. Lockwood as president, and which has since increased and prospered, until the company has established houses at Boulder, Louisville and Lafayette. In 1892 he was elected to the state Senate from the 5th senatorial district by a majority of 577 votes. He was elected asa populist-democrat, but his senatorial career has not been one of extreme partisan character. He has given business sense to all his public actions, and during the extraordinary session of the legislature he refused to be led or dietated to by those in high places in his party, whenever their ad- vice was in conflict with his own judgment. Hle is a man of strong convictions, and his one great aim is to conduct public affairs on sound business principles as he understands them. regardless of party affiliations. At the legislative session of 1895 he was elected president pro tempore of the Senate.
LAW, John, physician, was born in Bur- lington, Iowa, in 1844, but shortly afterward his parents removed to northern Illinois, near Galena. His father was a physician, whose talent and successful practice rendered bim locally eminent. In 1864 the subject of this sketch went to Idaho Territory, then be- ginning to receive quite extensive emigration, where he remained about two years, then re- turned home and began the study of medicine in his father's office. Making excellent prog- ress, in the fall of 1866 he entered the Chi- cago medical college, whence he was gradu- ated in the spring of 1868. Hle practiced his profession in Chicago until 1871, when he came to Colorado and opened an office in Alma. Park county, as a practicing physician. and to some extent engaged in mining. In 1878 he moved to Leadville, opening the first medical office in that eity. In Alma he was made one of the town trustees and subse- quently superintendent of schools for Park county : was a justice of the peace and judge of the county court, which he resigned on de- termining to locate in Leadville. He held the office of county physician for Lake county and city physician of Leadville a number of years. lle is one of the proprietors of a fine suburban resort known as Evergreen Lakes, on the west side of the Arkansas river. situ- ated directly under the shadows of Mount Massive, where, some years ago, he estab- lished apparatus for the propagation of fish.
LENHART, Michael, business man, was born in Brownsville, Fayette county, Pa., Dec. 2. 1831. llis parents were Leonard Len- hart and Hannah Baldwin, and were of Ger- man and English extraction. He is the ser- ond child of a family of ten children-five sons and five daughters, of whom three sons and one daughter are now living. llis father built the second steamboat that was con- structed in America, on the bank of the Mo- nongahela river, above Pittsburg. Michael attended the common schools of his native place until he was seventeen years of age, when he entered his father's employ. He re- mained with him but a short time, however, then engaged in steamboating on the ohio and Mississippi rivers, continuing nearly ten years, or until 1858, when he engaged in erecting machinery in cotton and other mills in Louisiana. He was in New Orleans at the breaking out of the war, and enlisted in the 7th La. regiment as a Confederate soldier. lle was promoted to lieutenant, served under "Stonewall" Jackson, and was in the battle in which that general received the wounds which caused his death. Mr. Lenhart was wounded at the second battle of the Wilderness, and also in the battle of Antietam, and was, in consequence, in a hos- pital about sixty days. In Nov., 1863, he was taken prisoner at a point where the Orange and Alexandria railroad crosses the Rappa- hannock river, and confined on Johnson's Island for nineteen months, being released in June, 1865. He then returned to Louisiana and resumed his old employment. In 1867 he went to Texas and erected machinery for the government. In 1869 he settled in Las Animas county, Colo., on the Purgatoire river, where he located a fine farm, and in 1870 moved onto a ranch situated on Coriso creek. About 1880 he purchased a fine rosi- dence in Trinidad, where he now resides. lle is thoroughly posted as a trader in stock, and deals largely in cattle. Ile is at this time (1886) engaged in mining in Arizona with a number of leading citizens of Trinidad, who comprise the Trinidad & Castle Creek min- ing and milling company, He is one of the proprietors of the Trinidad Cement works, and has been at various times interested in other local enterprises, He is recognized as one of the influential, substantial and pro- gressive citizens of Trinidad. March 12, 1SGS, he married Miss Margaret Dupee, near Stevensville, Texas. They have four chil- dren, Minnie, Leonard, Annie and John.
LENNOX, William, business man, was born both for stocking the mountain streams of in lowa City, Iowa, Dec. 25, 1850. llis parents the neighborhood and for the markets, This emigrated from Scotland in 1847, and settled in the place just named. His chiklhood and youth were spent on a farm nine miles from
is the most beautiful and inviting of Lead- ville's environments. Dr. Law has an envi- able reputation as a physician, ont of which his native city, to which his parents moved large practice has developed. He is also, in when he was two years oldl. His early edu-
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cation, received in the common schools of elected to the city council, and in 1855 made the country, was supplemented by a three president of that body. From 1853 to 1859 years' course in the Iowa state university, he was a director in the Baltimore & Ohio which he entered in 1866. lle was a hard R. R. company-the division between Pittsburg student, but ascertaining that he would and Cumberland and also in the Pan Handle neither have the time nor means which would enable him to complete the full collegiate course, he, in 1869, entered the lowa City commercial college. Before he had finished in that institution his parents left lowa and came to Colorado Springs, where the family located in 1872. Mr. Lennox spent the first two years in traveling and prospecting in the mountains. His parents having moved to a ranch near Monument Park, he remained in Colorado Springs, where he established a fred stable. A year later he disposed of his stable and accepted a coal agency from the D. & R. G. railroad company. In 1876 he and his brother purchased the Colorado Springs transfer line, and carried on a coal and transfer business, handling the coal as agents, first for the D. & R. G. railroad com- pany, and afterward for the Colorado Coal and Iron company. In 18St he bought his brother's interest in the business, and has since conducted it alone. Ile resigned as selling agent for the Colorado Coal and Iron company in April. 1889, and accepted a like agency from the Colorado Fuel company. IIe is also interested in various mining enter- prises in the state, and at the present time owns large interests in Cripple Creek mines. May 16, 1873, he married Miss Belle Cowgill. Six children have been born to them, four of whom, two boys and two girls, are living.
line, now the Pittsburg, Cincinnati & St. Louis. In Oct., 1855, he was a candidate on the first distinctively republican legislative ticket, composed of the leading manufactur- ers of Pittsburg. In 1875 he removed to Philadelphia, and in 1880 came to Colorado, settling in Denver. For a time thereafter he was engaged in coal mining in Boukler county; also at various times in gold mining, stock raising, farming and kindred pursuits. But the principal source from which his con- siderable fortune has been derived is the re- sult of judicious investments in farm lands in Arapahoe county, near Denver, and in city lots and lands. Ile is the owner of the valu- able ranch, comprising over 2,000 acres, called Rotherwood, situate eleven miles south of the city, where he resides a part of each year, but has also a home in Denver, Ile is the owner, likewise, of Longmont addition to Den- ver, Coronado, Seminary Hill, South Univer- sity Park and other valuable properties; has been a member of the Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade since its organization in 1884, and an earnest worker on some of its more important committees. In 1891 he was chairman of its committee on agriculture and horticulture. In June, ISS7, he was a member of the special committee appointed to in- vestigate concerning the probable existence of natural gas and petroleum in the vicinity of Denver, along the base of the mountains, and rendered an elaborate report thereon, en- conraging the hope of finding these essential aids to the manufacturing industry. This report was published and led to much of the prospecting that since has been done in that direction. Ile has also been a member of the Denver Real Estate and Stock Exchange since its organization, and at one time one of the directors. As chairman of committees he made two exhaustive reports one upon the wisdom of city ownership of water works, the other relating to the fraudulent sale of town lots in Colorado, which being published attracted widespread attention. l'pon the latter were largely based the proceedings against the offenders in the P'nited States court. lle is also a member of the State Ilor- ticultural society and State Forestry associa- tion. His extensive and successful experi- ments at Rotherwood, in cultivating trees of the kind in the state, are fully narrated in the State Forestry commissioner's report for 14990. Few of our citizens, enthusiastic and confident as most fixed settlers are over the fine climate and marvelous natural l'e- sources of the state, have equaled Mr. Long in giving expression to their faith at home and abroad. Grounded in what he has oh- Served and in what has been positively demon-
LONG, S. Allen, an extensive dealer in landed property, was born in Pittsburg, l'a., April 6, 1827, where, and in the near vicinity. his ancestors had lived anterior to the revo- lutionary war, and were among the sturdy patriots that assisted General Washington and his armies to achieve American inde- pendence. It will be seen, therefore, that he sprang from a loyal and patriotic family. Ile was educated at the Western Union univer- sity in Pittsburg, but subsequently took a course in the university of West Virginia, at Morgantown, finally completing his studies in Jefferson college, at Canonsburg. Pa., where he graduated with honors in ISIS. He then returned to his birthplace and eu- barked in various lines of manufacture, iron and brass works, heavy hardware, saws. axes, shovels, ete. He was among the first refiners of petroleum, having with his asso- ciates erected extensive works for that pur- pose in 1861. With several officers of the and crops without irrigation, the firstattempts Pennsylvania R. R. Co. he engaged in the purchase of limber land in the mountain regions of that state, building large sawmills for the manufacture of lumber for the Pitts- burgand Philadelphia markets, In all of these enterprises he was successful. In these years he was Identified with many public move- ments, political and otherwise, tending to the advancement of that city. In 1852 he was
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strated during the past thirty years, he has period attended a training school at Media, been a forceful contributor of material facts Pa. In the fall of 1877 he entered Ann Arbor respecting the future of Colorado and Den- university, and graduated from the law de- ver to some influential journals in America and in foreign lands. partment, taking degree of B. L., in the spring of 1879. He came at once to Colorado. lo- cated in Denver opened an office, and has been practicing law ever since. He was a partner of Judge Geo. W. Miller, and also of John P. Broekway, Ile has been a strong op- erator in real estate: watched the market, bought when low, sold when rising. His first deal of consequence was the purchase of a tract called Waddell and Machen's addition of 30 acres, which was laid out in lots: borrowed the money, bought the interest of his part- ners and carried it through, making abont $15,000. But most of his prosperity has come within the last five years. The next import- ant transaction was the purchase of four lots where the Equitable building now stands, from the Seventeenth street Presbyterian church,for $29,500, which he sold. in 1SSS, for $40,000. lle then bought extensively on the prospects of the new era then opening. He had made on the two deals mentioned about $18,000 cash, and on that basis of eredit purchased about $100,000 worth of real estate. In 1SSS- 89 he made nearly $100,000 on various trades; built a block at the corner of Eighteenth and Welton, which bears his name; next ten houses known as Athelstan terrace. at Twentieth avenue and Logan, of fine red sandstone, and subsequently eight or ten dwelling houses. Also, in 1890, a three-story brick, called the L. & M. block, just south of the Union Pacific shops, and, finally, the Electric block, opposite the Gettysburg building, in 1891. He owns a ranch of 3,000 aeres at Kiowa, in Elbert county, which is stocked with horses and cattle.
LOWER, John P., merchant, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., Jan. 2, 1833. After receiv- ing an ordinary education in the public schools, Aug. 4, 1851, he engaged as salesman in the gun house of James C. Grubb & Co., in Philadelphia, and remained until Aug. 18, 1872, much of the time traveling for the firm to the principal cities of the United States. llis first visit to Denver occurred in the spring of 1868, when he made the acquaintance of Carlos Gove, the leading gun dealer of Colo- . rado. A strong friendship ensued, which was strengthened by correspondence, and Aug. 23. 1872, Mr. Lower came to Denver with his family, and formed a partnership with Mr. Gove, under the firm name of Gove & Co. This continued until April, 1875, when, on the expiration of the partnership. Mr. Lower opened a store on his own account on Blake street, which became noted as a trading place of the Ute Indians, who procured there their guns, ammunition, heads and various or- naments, in exchange for bnekskins, robes, ete. Later on his two boys were admitted to partnership, when the firm became John P. Lower & Sons. It was well known through- out the state. In June, 1884, after more than thirty years of close attention to business. Mr. Lower, Sr., took a trip to Europe, being absent five months. Returning to Colorado in Feb .. 1885. for the benefit of his wife's health, he took her to Florida, Cuba and the Bermudas. Subsequently he became inter- ested in developing the redstone deposits. near Fort Collins, and, in connection with George F. Wilson, organized the Fort Collins Redstone company, of which he was presi- dent, and Mr. Wilson, secretary and general manager. They furnished the stone for the Essex building, the Mining Exchange and the county jail, in Denver, and were the first to send a trainload to New Orleans and thence to New York by steamer. It reached New York May 1. 18SS, where it was used in connec- tion with an additional trainload of the same sent overland, via Chicago, in a building at 9 East Seventy-first street. While attending his wife at Asbury Park, N. J., his partner bank- rupted the company and left the state, leav- ing Mr. Lower to meet its obligations alone. The gun business descending to his sons is still carried on successfully. Mrs. Lower died of cancer, May 1, 1SSS, at Asbury Park.
LITTLE, R. S., manufacturer, was born in Gratton, N. H., May 12, 1820. He started west in 1851, and in the spring of that year as- sisted in surveying what is now the Chicago & Northwestern railroad from Janesville to Chicago. He was also employed as engineer on the Milwaukee & Mississippi railroad. Mil- wankee & Fond du Lac, and Milwaukee & Watertown railroads, both as engineer and su- perintendent. He came to Colorado in 1860 and located in Denver. In 1865 he entered a homestead where the town of Littleton now stands. He engaged in farming, cattle rais- ing and dairying at Littleton in 1860, and took his wheat to Denver, where he was compelled to pay one dollar per hundred weight to have it converted into flour. He, together with L. A. Cole, then built the Rough and Ready mill, which was destroyed by fire in 1872, and again in 1874. entailing a loss of $50,000, In 1872 Mr. Little was elected to the legislature. In 1554 he married Miss Angelina Harwood, who only woman who remained at her home on the east side of the Platte river, south of Denver,
LONG, Robert A., lawyer, of Scotch de- seent, was born on a farm in Carroll county, Ohio, near Carrollton, the county seat, July 18, 1851; was educated in the common schools of that county, paying his own way: studied at one time, during an Indian raid, was the two years in Washington and Jefferson col- lego, at Washington, Pa. Then went to Pitts- burg, studied law one year, and for a like His mill was a great success, for it stimulated
THE ORO M. & M. CO., J H THOMPSON, GENERAL MANAGER AND OWNER.
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the farmers to raising wheat, and his flour brought more in the Denver market than any eastern flour. It was parer and better, and made more loaves to the barrel than either the Minnesota or Jowa flon. Mr. Little has done inch to advance the material prosperity of the town which bears his name.
LINTON, Thomas, an eminent Mason, was horn at Northampton, England, July 13, 1828. He attended the common schools, and, when old enough, learned the shoemaker's trade by a seven years' apprenticeship, On Ang. 16, 1849, he married Miss Mary N. Lee, the cero- mony being performed at St. Giles church, Northampton. On their sixth wedding anni- versary (Ang. 16, 1855) they sailed for Amer- ica in the elipper, William Stedson, and had a tempestuous voyage, being wrecked off the coast of Newfoundland. They were six weeks from Liverpool to New York, during which time they lost a daughter and buried her in the ocean. lle first went to Cleveland, O., others started for Pike's Peak. At Fort Kear- where he lived until Jan., 1857, when he fe- moved to Jowa City, Jowa, but in October, the same year, went to Bunker Hill, Ill., remain- ing there until 1869, when he came to Denver, ent Houtenant-general of the U. S. army, pro- Colo,, and carried on the shoemaking trade for several years. In 1877 he was elected al- derman for the 2nd ward, and was re- elected in 1879. In the fall of that year he was elected coroner for Arapahoe county on the republican ticket. He joined the Masons many years ago, and has served as tiler for the Grand Lodge A. F. & A. M. twenty-one years; sentinel for the grand chapter twenty years, and captain of the guard for the grand commandery, Knights Templar, for nineteen years. In 1889 Mr. and Mrs. Linton made a trip to England to visit the scenes of their childhood, and on their fortieth wedding an- niversary, Aug. 16. visited St. Giles church. but the old gray-haired rector who performed the ceremony had long since been gathered to his fathers, to reap his reward for service in the Master's vineyard.
LINTHICUM, Richard. See Vol. III, page 148.
LYON. Ora P., was born in Pomfret, Conn., Dee. 6, 1819, and was educated in the Barnum public schools of Bridgeport, finishing at Woodstock academy, in the same state. From thence he moved to Leominster, Mass., and engaged in the manufacture of jewelry and fancy goods, continuing until 1882, when he eame to Colorado. Remaining in Denver un- til 1883, he then went to Ouray county, set- tled at Ironton, just below the celebrated Red Mountain mines, and there engaged in aeres along the line of the coal belt, secured the lumber business. He is also a large owner of real estate in Ironton, Including the Lyon hotel, which bears his name. April 21. 1590, he was appointed by Governor I. A. Cooper commissioner for the 3rd district of Ouray county. He also served two years as trus- tee for the town of Ironton. Mr. Lyon is a member of Leominster lodge No. 86, I. O. O. F. of Massachusetts.
LECHNER, George W., miner, was born near Reading, Pa., in 1532, where he remained until 1852, during which time he was edu- cated in the public schools, preparatory to entering Yale college. The latter intention was abandoned, however, and in 1852 he went to California by steamer via Nicaragua, and followed mining four years. le was one of the discoverers of the "Blue Gravel" lead, well known to old Californians, part owner of the famous "Live Yankee" tunnel, at Forest City, and was superintendent of the Blue Tunnel, on Minnesota Flats, in Si- erra county, Cal. After disposing of his in- terest he returned to Pennsylvania, and the following year moved to Freeport, 1H., and for two years engaged in mercantile pursuits, occasionally reading law. In 1 59 the ex- vitement caused by the discovery of gold in the Rocky Mountains renewed his desire to become again a gold seeker, when he with noy two of the party with whom he traveled turned back to Freeport, while Mr. Lechner and Geo. W. Schofield, a brother of the pres-
ceeded with a horse and cart to their original destination, arriving about July 15, 1859. 1is companion, Schofield, then falling ill, Mr. Lechner took him back to Freeport, but in the spring of 1860 both returned to the Rocky Mountains, and at once began mining and prospecting in California Gulch and vicinity. In the fall of that year Mr. Leehner came to Denver and spent the winter in civil ongi- neering. In the spring of 1861 he went to Summit and Park counties, where, in the autumn of 1862, he was elected clerk and re- vorder of the latter, opening the first set of books for the same, and holding the office five years. He also acted as clerk of the 2nd judicial district, in and for that eounty, the seat being at Fairplay. He represented it in the first constitutional convention in IS65, and was elected a member of the state legislature which convened at Golden, Dec. 12. that year, but adjourned to Denver on the 16th, whereat Jerome B. Chaffee and ox- Governor John Evans were elected to the 1. S. Senate, but were not admitted to seats in that body, owing to the veto of the bill by President Andrew Johnson. In 1970 Mr. Lechner engaged in ranching and raising stock upon lands now covered by the town of Como. The first coal mine discovered in South Park was opened on this land, adjoining the town site just named. He located about 2,000 a government patent for the same, and upon the advent of the Denver, South Park & Pa- cifie R. R., in Isso, he organized the South Park Coal company, now merged into the I'nion Pacitie Coal company. Ile also located about 3,000 acres of coal lands immediately south of and adjoining those of the Union Pa- vifie for himself and Denver partles, He was actively engaged in the practice of law until
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